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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
Vol.
11,
No.
12
EDITORIALS A MISSION, A NEAR FAILURE, AND ULTIMATE SUCCESS
We have had a holiday; our readers have had a two months’ relief from the usual outpouring in this section of the J O U R N A L , while we have had opportunity t o get a broader vision by actual presence on the scenes where so vital a chapter of the world’s history has been written. But it is good t o be back, back in t h a t land of lands which we call our own. Why did we forsake our post? Last August the shortage of vat dyes became very acute; American manufacturers of dyes were not yet ready t o supply the home market, so the War Trade Board Section of the Department of State decided t o grant licenses for imports of vat dyes of enemy origin in quantities sufficient t o cover consumers’ needs for six months. The experience of France, Belgium, and Italy in securing limited supplies of German dyes suggested t h a t American consumers might also be supplied, possibly through the Committee on Organization of the Reparations Commission and from the stocks of dyes being held in Germany t o meet the terms of the Treaty of Peace. Under Annex VI of the Treaty the Allies are given a n option t o buy 50 per cent of t h e existing stocks of dyes within sixty days after the proclamation of the ratification of t h e Treaty, and for five years thereafter will have a n option on 2 5 per cent of the total amount manufactured, the option t o be exercised a t six-month intervals. With the approval of President Wilson and upon the solicitation of the president of the Chemical Foundation, Inc., we undertook the work of ascertaining in what manner, and by what machinery this six months’ supply could be obtained, fully conscious of the irony of t h e situation. On the day of arrival a t Paris a n important interallied conference was being held in London, and there it was decided t o invite the German manufacturers t o a conference a t Versailles t o arrange for a partial release of stocks. If this proposal was agreed t o , France, Belgium, and Italy were t o withdraw not more t h a n 2 2 0 0 tons of dyes, with the further provision t h a t not more t h a n 30 per cent of the 5 0 per cent of each color was t o be withdrawn. The United States and Great Britain were t o have the privilege of withdrawing not more t h a n 1500 tons each, under the same conditions, thus giving the right t o not more t h a n 20.45 per cent of the 50 per cent of each color. Later, in order t o insure the participation of the Germans in the conference, for i t was not a matter of treaty enforcement but of joint agreement, i t was decided t o offer t o t h e Germans the release for free sale, from their half of the stocks, of a quantity corresponding t o the kind and amount of each dye taken by the Allies. The proposal brought the Germans t o Versailles for a preliminary conference with representatives of the Allies on October 2, 1919. A few days before the conference took place information as t o the total poundage required by our con-
sumers was cabled. It was immediately evident t h a t only about 30 per cent of these needs could be provided for under our percentage share of each dye. T o supplement this and t o complete the block i t was determined t o seek a direct offer from the Germans t o supply the balance from their released stocks, or by immediate manufacture. On October 4, 1919, t h e conference was held at Versailles, M. Mauclere, of France, presiding for the Allies, Herr Dr. C. von Weinberg, the present head of the kartel acting as chairman of the eight representatives in the German group. The outcome was satisfactory t o all parties concerned. Immediately after adjournment we held a personal conference with Dr. von Weinberg and secured from him, after his consultation with his associates, an offer t o complete American needs a t prices for each dye t o be reckoned by dividing b y four, in the case of vat dyes, the price per kilo in marks on the inventory list of August 15, 1919. The quotient represented American dollars per kilo. I n the case of general colors the divisor was t o be five. With this proposition we returned t o Paris, happy in the thought t h a t t h e mission which had taken us t o Europe was finished. T o complete the transaction there remained only the transmittal of the proposals t o the consumers a t home, and, if they met approval, t o have a representative leave America a t once, provided with purchasing authority and funds. As quickly as possible a cable was prepared giving the details. While i t was being typewritten a messenger handed us a cable containing the information t h a t on October first the allocation cards had been given out t o consumers with authorization t o import through any commercial channel. The split among consumers as t o methods of importation brought utter confusion into the situation, and from a quarter least expected, for we had been told before leaving home t h a t the vat dye consumers would be organized into a n association which would purchase the dyes, and t h a t the dyes would be handled as a block proposition. We could not tell how great would be the split among consumers or on what basis we could further work. One thing was certain: Delay in receipt of t h e dyes would inevitably ensue so far as the consu’mers were concerned. As the days passed the situation seemed t o become worse, though meanwhile t h e Textile Alliance h a d been designated as the agency through which the reparation dyes would be imported. We gave up hope and started the journey home bluer than the purest indanthrene. At the end of the thirteen-day voyage we were met a t the gang plank of the ship by a representative of the Textile Alliance, and received the news t h a t harmony and uniformity again prevailed, t h a t assignments of allocation certificates t o German importing agencies had been cancelled b y consumers, and t h a t they had united
Dec., 1919
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
upon the Textile Alliance as the sole medium of importation. Some greeting t h a t ! There had been unexpected and unnecessary delay, but there could now be no doubt of an early and successful termination of the whole matter. And so i t turned out, for in a few days a meeting was held, as a result of which a message, which must have taxed the capacity of the cables, was sent by t h e Alliance t o its European representative, ordering the dyes.
THE BATTLE IS ON “Unless the spirit of independence is dead in the hearts of Americans, our people will never be satisfied until the American dye industry has been developed t o a point where i t can take care of every American need and stand as a bulwark of reserve for any future conflicts in which our nation may be compelled t o engage.” This was the remark we made t o the vice president of the Textile Alliance as we left the offices of the Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik a t Ludwigshafen on October 30. His instant agreement with t h e sentiment, in words much more picturesque and emphatic t h a n we had used, convinced us t h a t we had read aright the signs of the times evidenced during the two-hour interview we had just had with the high officials of t h a t greatest of all German dye manufacturing establishments. On the previous day we had had a very pleasant meeting a t Frankfurt with Dr. C. von Weinberg, the head of the German dye Kartel, and were beginning t o feel t h a t after all matters were shaping nicely. We proceeded t o the Badische plant in a comfortable mood. But the first few moments of the interview with the officials of t h a t plant brought out from Director Krell t h e volunteered information t h a t t h e lines had broken a t home, t h a t already he h a d i n hand orders from individual consumers with authority from the United States Government t o ship through their American agents t o the consumer. “Cocky” is the only word t o describe the attitude of the director. He had no desire t o discuss any matter in which we were interested, but with characteristic German psychology he endeavored a t once t o secure our assistance in persuading our Government t h a t this whole matter could and should be handled only through the American agents of the German dye works. “Yes,” he said, “We are going t o get back our old business in America, and through the medium of our former agencies. This is the only way it should be done, and this is the way it will be done.’’ The remark was so illuminating t h a t we asked him t o repeat it, which he did. There we sat listening t o this statement in the offices of the chief plant of t h a t great combination of manufacturers whose former control of our dyestuff supplies had led von Bernstorff t o suggest t o the Kaiser t h a t through shutting off these supplies he could throw four million Americans out of employment; perhaps in the very room where millions of dollars had been voted t o corrupt American industrial life; and near
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the spot where tons of material had been produced for poison gas by whose deadly action many a gallant doughboy had “gone west” and now slept beneath French soil. Smoke was pouring from all but two of the many tall stacks of t h a t establishment. The industrial war was on; the words of Director Krell left no doubt about that. The same supreme confidence characterized t h e industrial German as had been recorded of the military German in his first advance through Belgium, the same utter contempt shown of American capacity t o do things as was shown during 1917. But 1918 showed t h a t the German had missed his guess and we make the prediction t h a t he has missed again. Only one thing is needed t o insure the correctness of t h a t prediction, namely, t h a t the mass of our people understand just what the situation is. To t h a t understanding we are confident the American press will continue t o contribute, as i t has already done so splendidly during the past three years. T h a t understanding will reflect itself in sympathetic protective legislation and time will do the rest, for the American chemist needs only time t o forge the missing links in the chain of a c o m plete self-sustained American dye industry. I n the commercial struggle t h a t is now on, the way is not plain sailing for the German manufacturer. I n addition to what Americans have already accomplished and are determined t o complete, the German faces a winter in which the coal supply is destined t o prove a more serious obstacle t o contend with t h a n was the food problem resulting from the blockade. Transportation problems are also very acute, though the Rhine will furnish the natural transportation for dyes t o Rotterdam if the winter rains come early enough t o restore the volume of water in the river, now so low as t o require light loading of the steamers and barges which carry so much of German commerce. Finally, t h e German is badly worried over the situation created by the seizure of those patents by which he had throttled American industry for so many years. He signed the Treaty of Peace, agreeing t h a t these seizures were valid, but already he is beginning t o whine and t o t r y carefully t o manufacture sentiment against the splendid work in behalf of American commercial freedom so courageously carried out, under the authority of Congress, by the Alien Property Custo di an. I n spite of these handicaps the German dye manufacturer is strong to-day. His plants are even greater than before the war, the personnel of those plants is practically intact, large stores of material are accumulated and he is determined t o regain his markets. It would be foolish t o belittle the German’s ability or his fighting strength, but in the light of the accomplishments of the past four years, and indeed of the brilliant achievements during the short period of our absence, our mind turns back with supreme confidence in the correctness of the prediction of the Swiss professor who twenty years ago said t o us, “The natural house of the dye industry is America, and some day it will be there.” Speed the day, oh ye chemists of America1
